Bulldogs lose heartbreaker in overtime to Trinity

But for the Douglass boys basketball team, the ending wasn’t a fairytale.

Douglass and Trinity exchanged 3-point blow after 3-point blow during Friday night’s thriller of a game. The two teams combined for 27 3-pointers in all. Drew Chadic buried a 3-pointer from the corner to give Douglass a 67-66 lead with less than 45 seconds in regulation. The teams exchanged free throws as a classic game like this demanded overtime.

In the extra period, it was Trinity’s Tyler Burns who hit the big one. He caught a pass off a screen-and-roll and swished one from near the top of the key to give the Knights a 76-74 lead in the final seconds. Douglass missed its final shot, and the Knight won by that score.

“Win or lose, this is what high school basketball is about,” coach Ty Unrau said. “Playing in these games is what you remember the rest of your life. We’re looking forward to later in the season where we can improve, and get another chance at these guys and win these types of games.”

Before Burns hit the 3-pointer, Chase Banister gave Douglass a big lift when he drained an off-balanced 3-point runner to reclaim a lead for Douglass at 74-73. But Trinity always seemed to have the answer.

“Three times tonight we had the lead and the chance to get one defensive stop, and they hit a tough shot,” Unrau said. “You got to give them credit. They have good shooters, good players on that team.

“We’re going to learn from this, lock it down defensively and get it done,” he added.

Trinity’s Matt Jones was crushing it from downtown in the first half. He buried four 3-pointers and scored 20 of his 28 points as the Knights led by as many as 12. Unrau had Cody Holthaus guard Jones most of the second half, which slowed him down.

Holthaus led all scorers with seven 3-pointers and 35 points. He and Banister got the offense clicking on some pick-and-roll plays to get Douglass back into it late in the game. Banister finished with 18. Chadic had 11. John Gardner had five. Rip Fraley had four.